Next Steps

We are continuing to make progress towards our move to Romania. This past Saturday we moved out of our house and into Rebecca's parents basement with the help of many friends and family. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we close on our house. In the middle of August we will go to California to have more training and visit a few friends. Then, before we all know it, we'll be off to Romania! Our departure date is September 5. Here are some pictures showing where we now live (Caledonia).

The flower garden at the front of the house.

The view out of our slider downstairs.

There is a hummingbird hiding in this picture, feasting on the bee balm.

Robin taking a bath in the fountain.

Our bedroom.

Our mini kitchen.

The living area portion of our room.

Big Week Ahead, Lots To Pray About

Next week we have a lot going on as we continue to work toward leaving for Romania on September 5. We will be closing on our house early in the week as long as the bank paperwork gets done on time. Please pray that this goes smoothly and that it doesn't get pushed back any longer. We'll be moving out next weekend as it is the last one in July and we don't want to wait until August. So far many people have volunteered to help us and for that we are very grateful. Would you please pray that the move goes well and that we survive the packing/unpacking blitz?

For the last few weeks things have really been picking up with our support and partnerships. We will be meeting with the missions coordinator at Evergreen Ministries on Monday and Corinth Reformed Church on Wednesday. We are very excited about the doors that God has been opening. Please pray that these meetings go well and that God will work on establishing partnerships between us and these churches. We are also talking with at least two more churches and are praying that God continues to open doors for more prayer and support partnerships.

This is a time of transition for us and our lives seem to be in constant flux right now. There are still many unknowns as far as timing and planning, and our departure is right around the corner. Time seems to be really flying as we're busy busy busy. We are trying to stay strong in the knowledge that God is in control of all of this but the stresses we're feeling are becoming more intense. Would you please pray with extra zeal for us in these coming weeks and months? Please pray for strength and protection against the evil one's attacks, we can tell he's ramping them up already. Please pray for patience and peace as we face so much uncertainty and so many changes.

Thank you so much for your support, we couldn't do this without you and we are so comforted knowing that we have a large prayer warrior force standing behind us.

Birds and Blooms

One thing we have enjoyed since the day we have moved in is watching the birds. Often in the morning the Blue Birds perch on the deck looking for a nice juicy worm. We also see a variety of finches and in the winter several Juncos visit our feeder. It has been interesting trying to spot birds that aren't regular visitors. In addition to the birds, this year we have spotted three nests in use. One in the rose bush, one under the deck and one in the gutter!

Blue Bird

Indigo Bunting

Female Hummingbird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Northern Flicker

Eastern Kingbird

Nest with Robin Egg and Cowbird Egg

Another interest has been watching the garden grow. We are getting excited because our crops are starting to mature, so we will probably get to enjoy them before we move out. We are still uncertain of the exact closing date of our house, but it will be in the next week or so. After that we have 14 days before we have to move out. The timing will be just right.

Green Beans

Tomatoes

Bell Pepper

The Joys Of Craigslist

Since we found a home for our cats Smokey and Chewy by posting an add on Craigslist we have been using the site more and more often. We have been really impressed with the responses and have been amazed at the things that can be found on there. We are now posting anything we don't want to keep on there, what an easy way to re-home our stuff.

It only took 20 minutes for someone to respond to our ad for our cats. The amazing thing was how many other ads for free cats that there were, but it was a case of perfect timing. And after all, who could resist them, they're so cute!

We didn't want to have to move our massively heavy hide-a-bed couch, so we posted it for free. Within 40 minutes several people were interested. Someone came the next day to pick it up, which saved us lots of trouble. We were amazed that there was so much interest in it because we didn't hide the fact that the cats had fun scratching on the arms.

We bought this car for cheap so we can learn to drive a manual transmission. It is a 1988 Mazda 626. In Romania the vast majority of the cars are manuals so learning how to drive them will help us out a lot. Mark is having quite a lot of fun driving this and Rebecca will be learning soon.

We picked up this laptop for Mark's Mom because she didn't have a computer and she wanted to keep up with our blog and e-mail updates when we're in Romania. It runs great and was very cheap. Now the fun part will be teaching Mom how to use it :-)

We've also been giving some things to family and friends who want or need them. Our house is beginning to look empty, especially without any living room furniture. This whole process is definitely God's timing, everything has been going so smoothly!